Butterflies and Love
by Lilysanthesium
Summary: After seeing all the joy and love in Olivia and Rachel, Hina fantasizes about finding her sweetheart. Dreaming of butterflies and love.


"I heard Rachel!" The little girl giggled into her hands, "You got yourself a sweetheart, right? Congratulations!"

The young farmer girl laughed, blushing lightly at the young girl's extolment.

"I can't wait to find a handsome boyfriend too." Hina sang, mixing a sigh and giggle as she spoke. Rachel laughed with the young girl.

"Hina, I think you're too young to be thinking of things like that," She said. Hina pouted in response. "I mean, Charles might not allow it yet."

Hina made a face, placing his hands on her hips. "Don't be ridiculous, Rachel." She said, "Papa isn't in the picture."

She turned around and stomped away, not elaborating what she meant, leaving the young farmer confused, as her sweetheart approached behind her. Hina knew better than to interfere, so she left without a word, watching from the corner of her eyes as Rachel turned around and flustered as he smiled and handed her something.

The town's darlings.

Hina sighed dreamily to herself. Finding a handsome and sweet boyfriend like Rachel would be a dream come true. Maybe, in the future, she would end up like her mama and papa, happily married, or like Rachel, happily in love. She sighed dreamily once again, daydreaming as she stared at the waters of the Lavish Fountain in the garden spot.

But her choices were limited. She pouted.

Unlike Rachel, who had a ridiculous variety of equally good-looking and specially-skilled bachelors, Hina had, at most, two in the town. Niko and Toni.

Who, to her, weren't much of a dream-come-true choice. She huffed and blew the tiny strand of hair on her forehead up. She pouted. She looked up at the Gazebo at the side, over the Pink Bench and Potted Blue Roses. She stared up at the intricate pattern on the Gazebo, that Rachel personally made by hand. She sighed again.

Her eyes lit up as she saw a butterfly in the Gazebo's patterns. Maybe she _did_ have a chance for a dream-come-true boyfriend! She giggled to herself.

Hina remembered her Mama teaching her about butterflies and their life cycle. They started as icky-looking worms and caterpillars, hairy and weird and not at all pretty, but go through metamorphosis, turning into a shell, or a pod, or something, then after a while, become pretty butterflies. Maybe Niko and Toni would go through metamorphosis!

Niko would probably lose weight as he did, since her mama did also say that all caterpillars ever do as caterpillars is eat, saving energy to metamorphosize to a butterfly. Maybe he'd end up like Sanjay, a semi-jack-of-all-trades in everything. Maybe like Soseki, a critic with a fine eye.

Toni would probably mature as he would, growing up a little. Learn to not play so much pranks, learn to behave a little, learn to eat his vegetables maybe. He'd be like Rod, or Neil maybe, with all his exuberance and energy. Or maybe he'd succeed Emma as the shipper, who knew what from Toni.

Or! Or! Maybe _she_ would metamorphosize to a prett _ier_ butterfly! She giggled and sighed. She'd be just like her mama. But she'd work hard, just like Rachel. She sighed dreamily. And then the boys would strive and work hard to get her attention. She giggled. Or maybe boys from other towns would come to see her! She giggled again. Oh, how exciting!

"Hm? Hina, what are you doing here?" Someone called. The young girl turned to see Olivia sauntering toward her. She smiled and waved.

"Hello, Olivia." She greeted. Olivia beamed brightly, humming to herself, admiring the fountain along with Hina. The young girl tilted her head to the side, observing the tea connoisseur. She had a vaguely _Rachel_ air around her.

"Olivia," Hina piped. She turned around. "You seem really happy today." She smiled politely. Olivia's expression brightened as she laughed.

"Is it that obvious, Hina?" She beamed, "Well, you see, my fiancé sent me a letter today." She giggled.

Hina's eyes lit up as she smiled. "What's your fiancé like, Olivia?"

Olivia's face lit up, her eyes twinkling as she chattered on about her long-distance-fiancé. Hina listened intently, starry-eyed with her daydream of future sweethearts, and future fiancés, and future sweet nothings.

"I can't wait to find a sweetheart like you and Rachel." Hina giggled aloud. Olivia looked at the young pilot's daughter, smiling sweetly.

"Oh, but be patient, Hina. Love comes surprisingly, you never know when, or how, or how long it will come - or how long it will last."

"But then what about you and your fiancé? And then Rachel? Both are you are happy. And so is Mama."

"Oh, Hina," Olivia mused, chuckling. "My fiancé and I had to go through many things before we got together, and even now before we can get married. And I'm sure Camellia had many suitors before she married Charles. And Rachel, she had to go through a lot before she and her sweetheart got together,"

"What do you mean, Olivia?" Hina asked, delicate brows furrowed.

"What I mean is that love doesn't work the way we want it to, Hina. It isn't as simple as picking a flower from the forest. Love is— now, who knows what of love." She chuckled. She glanced down, seeing the confused look on the young girl's round face. She smiled, patting her on the head and handing her a Soft Chocolate.

"You're much too young to understand, little Hina. Love doesn't work that way, but I'm sure you'll find love like the way you want." She said, humming as she left to the west side of the village, leaving Hina bewildered and the chocolate melting.

The little girl glanced down at the chocolate treat, pouting. She kicked a pebble from her way and trudged home, wondering what Olivia meant.

"Grown-ups have all the fun." She pouted, puffing out her cheeks. She grumbled to herself, thinking about Rachel, then Olivia, her parents, then her future sweetheart.

"Hina," The little girl looked up, to see her mother calling to her from the front door of their house. She picked up her pace and ran to her mother, following her up to the second floor of their house.

"Hello, my darling sweet princess!" Charles gushed, his laughter booming, his eyes bright and twinkling as the little diamonds around him. The little girl greeted them with a smile as she sat down at the table. They ate quietly, with Charles suddenly exclaiming a compliment or flower note to his wife or daughter.

"Mama, Papa, how do you find you find love?" Hina suddenly asked. Camellia paused, looking questioningly at her daughter, while Charles dropped his spoon, colour draining from his face, comparably half-dead.

"What— why do you ask, sweetheart?" Camellia asked. Hina shrugged, pouting and mumbling incoherently.

"No no no no no!" Charles screeched, shaking his head vehemently, "I will not allow it, Hina! The only man you should love is Papa, you hear?!"

"Hush now, Charles." Camellia chided softly, patting him on the head to calm him down. "Now, Hina, you're too young for that." She turned and chided her daughter. Hina mumbled again in response. Her mother sighed.

"Hina, dear, you're too young to go about with love. And, as Olivia said to me before, waiting for love is much more filling than looking for it, honestly."

"It is, Hina!" Charles reflated suddenly, laughing. "And that love lasts forever!"

 _Well,_ Hina mused and nodded. Her mother was never wrong when it came to her lessons. Becoming a butterfly does time time, actually. She sighed and resigned herself. She'll wait to become a butterfly, _then_ fly around and look for her co-butterfly and flower. She imagined what sort of butterfly she would turn out to be, and how her sweetheart would be too. She giggled to herself. She wouldn't go looking for love, or anything of the like, but of course fantasizing about it was a different thing.

"Mama, Papa, where to babies come from?"

Camellia dropped her spoon, coughing as she patted a napkin to her lips. Charles nearly fainted from his seat. Of course, now they wanted to go back talking of love.

* * *

 **C/N: Inspired by the thing Hina would say when you first talk to her after getting a sweetheart! I kind of trailed off along the way, but eh. Does it make sense? Who knows. Don't you all just _love_ talking about love?**

 **" _I'm not mad. My reality is just different from yours."_**


End file.
